Cichlid ID

[Specialk314]

Hey everyone! After a long time away from this forum, i'm happy to be back. I recently moved and inherited a cichlid from the previous tenant. I've never researched much about cichlids so i'm hoping you all can help me ID this cichlid. He is about 4-5" long (Mods, please move if this is not an African Rift Lake Cichlid)
Thanks in advance!

 

[kno4te]

Electric blue acara.

 

[duanes]

According to some (and very plausible these days), the Electric Blue Acara is a hybrid of the electric blue ram and a blue acara (Andinoacara pulcher) that was manipulated in the lab, by combining milt from the ram with roe from the acara, and then line bred to fix the bluest individuals.

 

[ryansmith83]

I still don’t know where that story comes from but there’s been literally no proof of that, either in genetic tests or in reproducing those results. I still find it really irresponsible to spread that around as fact, much like the story that severums were used to create blood parrots.

 

[twentyleagues]

I still don’t know where that story comes from but there’s been literally no proof of that, either in genetic tests or in reproducing those results. I still find it really irresponsible to spread that around as fact, much like the story that severums were used to create blood parrots.

Hmm
According to some = fact.....
You say potato I say Apple pie. Same thing? Lol

 

[ryansmith83]

Mine was more of a general statement. Multiple places are stating this as fact now including Andinoacara.com, and of course there’s no source as to where that information came from.

 

[duanes]

I believe the average aquarist could care less whether the fish they acquire, is a hybrid, line bred, or simple mutant, or a true species, and buys what appeals to the eye. And of course, that's fine
I on the other hand, believe, if there is even an inkling that there has been man made tinkering or modification, that fish is unwanted by me.
And I feel to represent any of those above manipulations as a true, pure species is vastly more irresponsible than suggesting doubt on its genetic purity.
If someone comes up with a catch location for Electric Blue Acaras, I would concede, but as of yet that hasn't happened, so whether its line bred (like Electric blue Rams, or JDs) and a hybrid (like a Flowerhorn), or a line bred mutant (like a BP, or short bodied anything that I would have culled) I believe either way, it won't be found in my tanks, just as you wouldn't find a gold severum, pink convict, or any albino anything.

 

[ryansmith83]

There is a difference between something being line bred to set a genetic mutation (fin length, color variance, etc.) versus being a hybrid.

There is a very clear history of how blue diamond discus were discovered, for instance. They are a solid blue iridescent fish but they were not created using any kind of hybridizing outside of their genus.

I keep seeing over and over again on forums and Facebook groups now that electric blue rams were used to create EBA when no one knows that for sure, and may even be scientifically impossible.

No one is claiming that electric blue acaras are naturally-occurring in the wild, but a lot of the longtime hobby staples were simply line-bred by breeders who saw variations in fry and then bred for that trait. It doesn’t change their species.

 

[Ogertron3000]

The fact is no one knows if they are hybrid or line bred. There's indicators they are hybrid such as the longer fins but there's no proof either way. They seem too hardy to be line bred when compared to the electric blue jack Dempsey.
I had some a while back and enjoyed keeping them, they were relatively peaceful ,hardy and bred easily. I would certainly recommend them but can see why purists don't like them.
Incidentally when I brought them the shop guy said they were a wild strain not man made/bred!

 

[duanes]

Although I could care less that other people want designer fish, and do know line breeding (man induced manipulation of genes to produce color variation, or long fins, etc, is not the same as, or not quite as repugnant to me, as hybridization, or as man made mutant production), it is still the kind of tinkering that's not for my anally puristic tanks.
If a fish is blue in nature (there are many), it is different than one made blue or candy apple red in the lab, or some amatuers basement.
I don't need someone to make JDs or acaras bluer than they are, there are plenty enough naturally blue Malawi cichlids if I want blue.

The problem comes in for me, when (as seems predominantly the case today) so many amateurs are manipulating fish, and turning them into LFSs as this or that, that the real ones are impossible to find.

In my tanks an unnaturally colored live bearer, cichlid, or anything just doesn't fit approach.
Many aquarists will mix continents, but I'm at a point where I don't want to even put fish from different small countries together.